Turning around, Lin Suixin glanced at where Ding Ning and the others were, and shouted Xu Lianhua’s name without looking down at his scroll.

Many students ground their teeth together. They increasingly felt that Lin Suixin was intending to send the people on Ding Ning’s side into the top ten. Unexpectedly, Lin Suixin said another name.

“Facing Bai Ruoze.”

“So random.”

At the mention ofHearing Lin Suixin state his opponent’s name, Xu Lianhua shook his head and spoke softly with a frown. He could not understand Lin Suixin’s thoughts.

From several small details, everyone could feel that Lin Suixin admired the people who stood on Ding Ning’s side more. Yet, his arrangements now seemed to lean towards eliminating them.

Bai Ruoze was ranked twenty second on the Book of Talents and was the best of the Amrita Sword School. If this was at any other time, Xu Lianhua had an eighty percent chance he could defeat his opponent. But Xu Lianhua was spent after defeating Chen Liqiu while Bai Ruoze had not been wounded seriously, and had easily defeated his first opponent.

“Do you feel that Bai Ruoze is better than me?”

While Xu Lianhua could not understand, he did not want to argue with Lin Suixin. He struggled up and started to walk slowly.

“How are you?”

Zhang Yi could not help but take a step along and looked worriedly at Xu Lianhua. He hesitated and said, “If not possible, do not force it.”

“I do not want to answer your question.” Xu Lianhua glanced at Zhang Yi and then turned to Xia Wan, saying, “Xia Wan, you can answer what kind of style the Xu Marquessate Establishment has.”

Zhang Yi turned in shock towards Xia Wan.

Xia Wan took a deep breath and said softly, “The Xu Marquessate Establishment only ever has cultivators who die on the battlefield, and none that admit defeat.”

Zhang Yi was stunned speechless.

Ding Ning stopped not far ahead of Zhang Yi. Looking at Xu Lianhua, he did not speak. The instant that Xu Lianhua was passing beside him, he whispered, “Three inches below his left ribs.”

Xu Lianhua’s eyebrows rose. He did not say anything and continued to walk forward.

**

Bai Ruoze was already waiting in the battlefield.

Seeing Xu Lianhua walk and stop in front of him, he bowed and said apologetically, “Sorry.”

“Do not apologize to me.”

Seeing the polite Bai Ruoze, Xu Lianhua’s expression turned stern. He said with slight coldness, “Do you feel that I would definitely lose to you?”

Bai Ruoze was rising back up when he heard the words. His expression turned stiff, bowed, and said, “Sorry.”

He said sorry twice, both times with sincerity. However, he was the best disciple of a cultivation place and naturally was very proud. So while his attitude was respectful right now, anger burned in his eyes.

Xu Lianhua did not look at him. He looked up at the black sky where the stars were obscured, and said expressionlessly, “Just start.”

Bai Ruoze did not hesitate or waste words. He knew that he was very close to reaching the top ten of the trials. He could not miss a chance to change his life due to some emotional factors.

Just as Xu Lianhua’s voice sounded, he drew his sword.

With a clang that reached into everyone’s ears, his green sharkskin scabbard was empty. He held a sword in his right hand. There were no explosive primal energies of the universe between him and Xu Lianhua, just a dozen sword shadows of a blue sword.

These dozen blue sword shadows seemed to move like they were in an ocean. They advanced silently in strange swirling patterns in the air, and stabbed towards the fatal points on Xu Lianhua’s body.

A light pink sword light spun around him. Sword energy rose from the ground like him, appearing like lotus flower petals. The dozens of blue sword lights collided with these flower petals, being bounced off, turning into blue smoke, and unable to make it within ten feet of Xu Lianhua.

Seeing this scene, Bai Ruoze howled, and viciousness spread across his face. His feet tapped off the ground, and his entire body floated up like he was weightless. His blue longsword fell downwards towards Xu Lianhua’s head.

As his sword sliced below, blue energies rose from the ground, and gathered towards the blade. The blue energies gave off a dark and cold aura, completely unlike the mortal world. The energies were soundless as they rose from the ground, and appeared like flowers from the underworld blooming in unison.

The blood vessels on Xu Lianhua’s forehead bulged and pulsed. Then he shook his head, sighed, and released the sword he held.

Almost everyone thought that Xu Lianhua was going to admit defeat. Yet, Zhang Yi knew that this was not the case. So he saw more clearly that Xu Lianhua’s hand was falling towards the scabbard at his waist.

Boom!

Xu Lianhua’s scabbard caused the surrounding air to pop.

For a moment, Bai Ruoze had also thought that Xu Lianhua was going to forfeit. Yet, when he felt the explosive presence around Xu Lianhua, his pupils contracted, and he shouted.

The blue energies gathered around his sword condensed, and there seemed to be a blue ghoul about to charge out of the blade.

At this moment, Xu Lianhua was reaching with scabbard in his hand. The mouth of the scabbard faced the blue longsword stabbing towards him.

Bai Ruoze’s breathing completely stopped. He tried to adjust the direction of his longsword yet he discovered Xu Lianhua was faster than him!

With a clang, Xu Lianhua accurately used his sword scabbard to cover Bai Ruoze’s longsword!

With the sword in the scabbard, the blue energies spilled out of the mouth of the scabbard. The blue ghoul that seemed to have formed on the blade was apparently crushed. Even more importantly, the sword scabbard blocked the connection between the sword and the primal energies of the universe!

Bai Ruoze felt coldness rise. But he was not a weak person. The moment his sword form was fended off, he responded as well. His body retreated. He pulled his sword, and at the same time, he increased the output of vital energy from his body. He wanted to use this moment of standstill to wound Xu Lianhua and cause him to lose.

However, in this moment, he felt a surge of disbelief.

A power that he could not resist came from his sword hilt.

How can there be such strong strength!

His eyes widened to their limits. He was unable to scream as Xu Lianhua swung his arm. The scabbard moved his sword along, and carried a completely unreasonable power that whipped towards his left ribs.

Bai Ruoze’s body instinctively wanted to twist and dodge, but a momentary pain slowed his dodge.

Bang!

A muffled sound shook everyone’s eardrums and veiled the sound of bone breaking in the next moment.

Cultivators who could sense vital energy more clearly were more shocked. Because, in the last stages of this battle Xu Lianhua used brute force without finesse to defeat Bai Ruoze. In their view, Xu Lianhua could not muster such oppressive power against his opponent. Bai Ruoze was just slightly weaker than him.

“It actually is …”

In the next moment, all the incredulous cultivation teachers knew the answer. Their gazes focused in shock on Xu Lianhua’s face.

Xu Lianhua stood motionlessly yet his face appeared to be covered in a patchwork colored mask. His features were twisted in pain, and even his muscles were convulsing.

“He ignored the poison in his body….”

A student realized and shouted in shock.

Zhang Yi was stunned. His body started to tremble involuntarily.

Ding Ning and Geng Ren had explained the abilities of the Seven Leaf Powder. So he knew the great pain that would occur as a result of ignoring the limit. Yet, Xu Lianhua was able to remain standing!

Zhang Yi trembled even more as Xu Lianhua continued to stand and even speak.

Xu Lianhua said, “He has fallen, I am standing, so this counts as my victory.”

Xu Lianhua’s voice had completely changed key. His voice seemed to convulse but he still managed to speak in a complete sentence.

Ding Ning’s expression remained calm. He looked at Xu Lianhua’s body and said, “You should not have needed two moves, just one.”

“This is my problem.” Xu Lianhua was unable to turn around, but he said in his changed voice. “It’s not that I doubt you, but I knew that this poison would be extremely painful. I am a bit afraid of the pain from the poison, so I dreamed of trying to last without using this kind of method.”

After saying this, Xu Lianhua fell forwards.

“Junior Sect Brother!” Seeing Xu Lianhua fall down, Zhang Yi almost burst into tears. “He is already like this, you are still speaking so much to him.”

“Since he wants to do it, he has to reach the extreme. Then it will not fail what he has paid,” Ding Ning looked at the fallen Xu Lianhua and said calmly. Then he whispered. “Pain is a kind of experience.”

Translator Ramblings: Amrita means “immortality” or “elixir” in Sanskrit, referring to the “food of the gods.” In Chinese, the term is more closely related to “nectar.” Since “Nectar Sword School” is really not … profound enough, I used Amrita.